Not that anyone is really surprised. Nor does it come as a surprise to long-time Bush loyalist. But Jeb Bush is on the big stage now and his entire education vision will come under scrutiny like never before. Consider this little tidbit from a Ron Fournier piece in the National Journal:

“13,174 government-run school systems is not the appropriate model of governance for this incredibly diverse group of kids who comprise the next generation of Americans,” he said.

Before I could ask how he’d deal with all those school districts, Bush doubled back to my point about tropes. “One way that you’re right: this is not as ideological as it is just recognizing the way world works,” he chuckled. “But smaller would work better than bigger.”

Talk about transforming America. Like with Common Core, Bush will now have to convince republican voters who are happy with the public schools their children go to. I can hear this Bush line coming:

If you like your school, you can keep your school.

Right. But Bush really doesn’t support honest choice and he has proved that he will use any coercion to implement what he wants to impose. His attempt while Florida governor to implement a school voucher program was struck down as unconstitutional. In its place he created a corrupt tax credit scholarship program which operates on tax payer dollars, has little state oversight, no school grades and different tests for accountability.

One of his education foundations created a faux group of parents who wanted a “parent trigger” law in Florida. Bush personally lobbied one state senator to change his vote against the bill.

A Jeb Bush presidency would have a hyper-powerful Department of Education in which Arne Duncan would be right at home and one where Common Core is the nations one-size-fits all curriculum. Marco Rubio’s federal voucher program would become the law of the land.

Local control? We don’t need no steenkin’ local control!

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

About Bob Sikes

A long time ago and a planet far, far away I was an athletic trainer for the New York Mets. I was blessed to be part of the now legendary 1986 World Series Championship. My late father told me that I'd one day be thankful I had that degree in teaching from Florida State University. He was right and I became twice blesses to become a teacher in the late 1990's. After dabbling with writing about the Mets and then politics, I settled on education.

One Response to A Jeb Bush Presidency Would Dismantle Public Schools

As a Floridian I would not vote for Jeb Bush. One shoe does not fit all as each school district is vastly different and individual schools within a district are different. Teachers are best on engaging their students in learning without adhering to common core standards and endless mindless testing imposed on them by money hungry high stakes testers whose only motive is the almighty dollar.